Triton

The Shipyard‘s First Passenger Ship

When the young Joseph L. Meyer wanted to build iron ships, Papenburg’s inhabitants were sceptical. A local ship-owner threw a piece of iron into the water of the main channel, waited till it sank and asked: "You want to build a ship from this?" But Joseph L. Meyer had a goal in mind and against all critical voices he turned away from timber ships and devoted himself to building iron ships.

The shipyard‘s first three iron ships were built in 1873, three so called ‘Kohlenprähme’, which were delivered to Wilhelmshaven. One year later, under yard number 4, the first passenger steamer by MEYER WERFT was launched. It was delivered to the Norddeutschen Lloyd in Bremen.

The ship, having a tonnage of 133 gt, had a length of 35,05 meters, a breadth of 5,52 meters and a draught of 2,87 meters. The Triton could operate at a speed of 9,5 knots due to a low-pressure machine (build by the company Meyer & Barth) that provided 300 Psi. The Triton had a crew of nine and could transport up to 210 passengers.

The Norddeutsche Lloyd employed the ship, as required, either as tugboat, tender or in seaside resort operations. The ship was handed over to the shipyard G. Seebeck in Geestemünde in January 1896 and was remodeled there to a sole steam tugboat.